Ranji Trophy: Unmukt Chand named Delhi captain in Gautam Gambhir's absence

New Delhi, Sep 29: With Gautam Gambhir on national duty, batsman Unmukt Chand was today named captain of the 15-member Delhi squad for its first two games in the Ranji Trophy beginning October 6.

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Gambhir, who has received an India call-up after two years, is with the national team in Kolkata ahead of the second Test against New Zealand beginning at the Eden Gardens on Friday.

The squad was picked by the newly formed selection committee comprising Nikhil Chopra, Atul Wassan and Robin Singh Jr, in the presence of new coach KP Bhaskar and convenor Chetan Chauhan.

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The selectors had earlier announced a list of 46 probables for the Ranji Trophy. With the concept of neutral venues to be introduced this season, Delhi play their opener against Assam in Baroda before travelling to Mumbai for their second match against Maharashtra from October 13.

A DDCA release on the squad stated that Virat Kohli and Gambhir will be the captain and vice-captain for the entire season.

Test captain Kohli will miss out majority of the domestic season for national duty and so will Gambhir, if he manages to hold on to his place in the Test team.

The squad:

Unmukt Chand (captain), Vaibhav Rawal, Milind Kumar, Nitish Rana, Manan Sharma, Dhruv Shorey, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Mohit Sharma, Pulkit Narang, Varun Sood, Parwinder Awana, Navdeep Saini, Vikas Tokas, Pradeep Sangwan, Pawan Suyal.

PTI